Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Sophie’s eyebrows raised as he led her toward one of the larger
statues and pointed to the teal orb supported by intricate swirls of
metal. It was the size of a basketball, with silver circles speckling the
thick glass.
“This is it?” Sophie asked, keeping her voice low.
Fitz nodded, leaning closer again. “I thought you should know how
to find it. And . . . I think you should know the code that activates the
panel.”
“Why?” Sophie whispered.
His lips curled into a small smile, and their eyes locked. “I told you
—you’re the only one I trust.”
She sucked in a breath.
The words sounded even better out loud than they had in her head.
And she was pretty sure her heart was going to punch through her ribs
any second.
“Is it okay if I transmit the code?” he asked, and she hadn’t even
finished her nod before her mind filled with his crisp voice.
Scion.
She repeated it to make sure she’d understood.
Yep. And you key it in like this. He placed his palm in the center of
the orb and the glass flared with a subtle glow, making each of the
silver flecks light up with a tiny letter.
Is it reading your fingerprints? she asked.
Nope, just responding to touch. And there was no rhyme or reason to
the letter arrangement, so it took Fitz several seconds to locate the S-
C-I-O-N. But as soon as he pressed the final letter, the glass orb
rotated, revealing the thin seam of a small square.